The blood-splattered rag doll arced through the air and slammed into the shadow.
Strange as it was, the formless shadow froze at the doorway after being struck by the doll. Its arm seemed to have been clamped in the doll's jaws.
"Nice one!"
Chen Ge aimed the flashlight at the dark figure. Under the light, the shadow began to writhe and fade. A mirror-dwelling monster stripped of its anchor was even more fragile than Chen Ge had imagined — it abandoned a portion of its body and fled into Room 302.
The abandoned piece of the monster vanished almost immediately, though whether it had dissipated in the room or been secretly devoured by Xiaoxiao, he couldn't tell.
"Eating that stuff seems to do Xiaoxiao some good." Chen Ge stuffed Xiaoxiao into his pocket, grabbed his claw hammer, and slammed it against the door lock of Room 302.
"Come out!"
Dust and rust flakes rained down from the old iron door, the entire frame shuddering with the impacts.
The commotion was too loud — nearby tenants were startled awake, and the door across the hall in 301 cracked open a sliver.
"What's all the racket?" The disheveled middle-aged man stepped out with a beer bottle, fuming, before he had fully emerged. The iron door of Room 302 was suddenly shoved open from inside. The young man living there stood in the doorway brandishing a kitchen knife, his face flushed red, eyes wild, and he slashed at Chen Ge like a madman.
"The mirror monster entered his body?"
The corridor was narrow, leaving little room to dodge. Chen Ge backed up and noticed the disheveled man had opened his door.
He slipped inside and slammed the door shut behind him.
The kitchen knife bit into the iron door with a spine-chilling clang. The young man from Room 302 had completely lost his reason, his eyes shot through with blood vessels.
His face twisted into a hideous mask. He didn't speak — just kept hacking hysterically at the door of Room 301, as though he wanted to tear Chen Ge limb from limb.
Then again, it was understandable. He had been scheming for weeks, on the verge of finally seizing Men Nan's body, only for Chen Ge to intervene and ruin everything. Not only had he gained nothing, but to escape he'd had to sacrifice a chunk of his own body.
Fury consumed him. The corridor echoed with the relentless "clang, clang" of the kitchen knife striking the door.
"What the hell is going on?" The disheveled middle-aged man inside the apartment was terrified, completely forgetting he'd come out looking for a fight with a beer bottle in hand. His legs went weak, and he retreated behind the shoe cabinet.
"Help me!"
The door wasn't locked and could be yanked open at any moment. Chen Ge turned his head and shouted.
"I — I'll call the police for you." The man wouldn't dare go anywhere near the door. He rummaged across the coffee table littered with beer bottles, searching for his phone. In his panic, he knocked over a whole row of them.
"I said come help!" The door couldn't be locked. The young man from Room 302 was hacking at it with his kitchen knife in a frenzy, and Chen Ge couldn't leave now either.
The noise carried far. Lights flickered on one after another throughout the apartment building, and numerous tenants opened their doors to peer out into the corridor.
Inside Room 304, Doctor Gao had just set Men Nan down on the living room sofa when he heard Chen Ge's shouts. He grabbed a stool and rushed out.
By now the young man from Room 302 was blind with rage, every ounce of his attention fixed on Chen Ge. Doctor Gao used the opportunity to creep up behind him with the stool.
When he was within a meter of the young man, he swung the solid wooden stool and brought it crashing down on the young man's upper back. He had probably aimed for the head, but swung so hard the trajectory veered off.
The young man's balance gave out. He stumbled forward two steps and collapsed face-first against the door.